The present invention relates to machines used in performing railway maintenance. More particularly, the present invention relates to machines for installing and removing rail clips from railways.
Conventional railroad tracks generally comprise two rails secured to a plurality of ties by rail fasteners. Depending on the type of material used to make the tie, different fasteners are used. For concrete ties, rail clips are often employed. The clips are usually installed on both the field side and gage side of the rail in order to prevent the rail from slipping. Rail clips are installed by sliding the clips into place in specially designed brackets or fittings embedded in the ties so that a portion of the clip overlaps the base of the rail.
Rail maintenance machines have been built for installing and removing rail clips. These machines are designed to ride on the rails and are provided with lever members for performing the installation and removal. An operator rides on the machine and is responsible for positioning the lever members over the rail clips. Once the lever members are in place, the operator initiates the installation or removal operation.
Generally, rail clips are installed by sliding the clips in shoulders in a direction parallel to the rail. Rail clips which are installed on and removed from the rail by sliding the clips transversely over the rail base are relatively new.
Conventional rail clip machines are configured for installing and removing rail clips which are installed by sliding the clips in shoulders in a direction parallel to the rail and are not suitable for the installation and removal of clips installed by sliding the clips transversely over the rail base.
Thus, there is a need for a machine which can automatically and reliably install and remove rail clips to and from rails, by sliding the clips into and out of shoulders transversely to the rail.
it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for installing and removing rail clips by sliding the clips transversely to the rail.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for installing and removing rail clips transversely to the rail in a manner which minimizes stress on the clip support structure.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for installing and removing rail clips which reduces the amount of slippage that occurs during the installation/removal operation, also reducing the number of faulty installation/removal attempts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for installing and removing rail clips which can be accurately positioned over the rail clips, reducing the number of faulty attempts.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for installing and removing rail clips which can be used with existing railway maintenance machines.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.